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Coronavirus-stricken Israelis indifferent to Netanyahu’s diplomatic victories

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps registering diplomatic achievement with Gulf countries, but most Israelis are preoccupied only with coronavirus troubles.
President Donald Trump meets with  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 15,  2020.   (Photo by Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will stand opposite the Knesset dais Oct. 15 as he brings the Abraham Accords — the agreement that normalizes relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — to a vote.

True, the law does not require the prime minister to bring the agreement to the Knesset for validation after it was ratified by the government Oct. 12. But Netanyahu wants his big moment. It’s really the issue of respecting the country’s parliament by presenting it with the accords and seeking its approval. Netanyahu needs this festive ceremony on a personal level too. Almost certainly, the topic of normalizing relations with the UAE will be discussed at great lengths in the autobiography he will pen someday.

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